Enormous library database is in Dublin

Sunday

Apr 28, 2013 at 12:01 AMApr 28, 2013 at 1:37 PM

There's something massive here in central Ohio. It grows steadily every day, nearly every second on average. Nowhere on the globe can you find a bigger one of its kind. It's WorldCat, and it's 42 years old this year.

Thereís something massive here in central Ohio. It grows steadily every day, nearly every second on average. Nowhere on the globe can you find a bigger one of its kind.

Itís WorldCat, and itís 42 years old this year.

Housed at the OCLC Online Computer Library Center in Dublin, WorldCat is the most comprehensive library catalog in the world. The colossal database represents almost 2 billion items held by participating libraries. (The catalog is likely to hit the 2 billion mark in May. )

The projectís beginnings go back to 1971, when library staff members at Ohio University in Athens, using a dedicated phone line, remotely added the first bibliographic record to what was then OCLCís online catalog. That first book was Rand McNally Book of Favorite Pastimes.

By 1979, libraries in all 50 states were participating. Now, more than 74,000 libraries ó in 170 countries and territories ó tap into the resource. Countries to get onboard this year are Azerbaijan, Bolivia, Cameroon, Georgia, Senegal, Togo and Uzbekistan.

The cooperative reached1 billion holdings in 2005. Three years later, for the first time, its non-English record content exceeded its English-language content.